Actor Gene Wilder has died at the age of 83.
His family first broke the news to the Associated Press and it is being reported that he died from complications from Alzheimer’s Disease.
Wilder, whose real name is Jerome Silberman, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and started as an actor on stage.
He earned an Academy Award nomination for best Supporting Actor for his breakout film role as Leopold Bloom in The Producers.
He will be best remembered as the star of the 1972 film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, based on Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book.
After his wife, Gilda Radner, passed away from cancer in 1989, Wilder became active in cancer awareness and founded the cancer support group Gilda’s Club in New York City and helped to found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center.
Wilder later found lasting love with Karen Webb, who he met when she was brought onto the set of See No Evil, Hear No Evil to teach him how to lip read. They were married for 25 years.
– Written by Rekha Kulen
